RESIDENTS have joined forces to help to tackle the problems in their fast-declining community.

After years of neglect, Swatch, a group of residents from the Parkfield area of Stockton, is helping the fight against decline in the area.

They have set up the group to tackle the area bordered by Alliance Street and Hind Street.

The two terraced streets are more than half empty, with every other house boarded up and derelict. The area is infamous for the amount of attention needed from police and firefighters.

The remaining population is scared of the burglary and vandalism of neighbouring empty properties and some are trying to move out or sell up.

The main focus of the group has been to set up a community house in Alliance Street.

Dianne Casey, community development worker with Swatch, said: "The residents felt they needed a community house for them to go and get to know each other.

"It will offer them a community focal point and offer training and counselling, among other things.

"The residents are beginning to feel hopeful something at last can be done to rescue the area before it is too late. Quite a lot of people do want to stay in the most run-down areas, because that is their home."

The house has been made possible with the help of organisations such as Stockton Borough Council and residents and community groups.

Ms Casey said: "The decline of the area makes it a place where no one wants to live. It is horrendous because it has such a dreadful reputation.

"There is a high rate of burglaries and I know of one resident who has been burgled three or four times.

"That is why this community house is so important. It offers them the chance to work together for the good of the community and help regenerate it."

Earlier this year, Stockton council responded to residents' concerns by setting up a committee on its SRB regeneration partnership board to deal with the area.